Moray Road Runners athlete Sam Milton wins the Devil of Deeside race at Run Balmoral
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A DEVILISHLY good performance on bike and trail across Deeside earned a Moray athlete victory in a gruelling all-terrain race.
Sam Milton (35), representing Moray Road Runners, won the Repsol Devil of Deeside competition, part of the Run Balmoral weekend.
The Burghead-based triathlete completed a 5k and 10k race on the Saturday, did a duathlon on Sunday involving 27k of biking and running, then finished off with a 15-mile trail race.
It was only the fourth time that the multi-sports Devil challenge had been contested at Run Balmoral, which is the north-east's biggest participation sports event involving more than 5,000 participants.
"They introduced the Devil of Deeside in 2017 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Run Balmoral," he revealed. "It was meant to be a one-off but the uptake was so good they decided to keep it going, and this was the fourth year after two years off due to the pandemic.
"It was a fantastic weekend and great to be back at an organised event mixing with people again.
"For me it was uncharted territory as I had only done the 15-miler before. I didn’t really have any pre-race expectations, just a case of pacing it over the weekend and see where I came out.
"Winning it was fantastic, I'm really, really pleased with how my training went."
Milton was seventh in Saturday's 5k in a time of 16 minutes, 35 seconds over a quick, mainly tarmac route.
He finished second in the 10k ran (35:33) over predominantly trail and off-road terrain to strengthen his overall position going into a tough Sunday endurance test.
In the duathlon, he ran 6k then jumped on his mountain bike for a 16km hilly ride before reverting to his trainers to race another 5k.
For this part of the race, he completed a new course record to win in 1:18.54.
Finally, he completed the 15-mile trail race as ninth-fastest in 1:38.38, for a cumulative time of 3:49.52 to win by five minutes.
Milton returned to his home town Burghead last year after a spell in Aberdeen, and joined Moray Road Runners to represent the club in events and push his fitness levels further.
"It's a great club, and this was the first opportunity I had to represent them at this event so I'm pleased with my performance," he said.
Milton also cycled the complete North Coast 500 route two years ago in memory of his late mum, raising over £10,000 for the Friends of ANCHOR charity.
A former Highland League footballer with Lossiemouth, he took up road running and was a regular 10k winner until injuries, including a series of stress fractures, forced him to take time out from his sport.
He then took up triathlon, with the swimming and cycling training easing the strain on his legs which he sustained solely from running.
"I try to swim three times a week if I can and get 10 to 12 hours on the bike, and maybe three to four hours of running," he said.
"It is mentally and physically challenging. Triathlon is a mind game more than anything else.
Milton has already lined up his next gruelling challenge, possibly the toughest he has ever faced.
For he has entered the Celtman event in June, an extreme triathlon regarded as the most difficult in Scotland.
"The Celtman is a 3.4km swim in Loch Shieldaig, you come out the water there and its 125 miles on the bike involving 2000 metres of elevation gain up round Poolewe round to Garve and back again.
"You then get off the bike at Kinlochewe and run over the Ben Eighe mountain pass and it's a mountain marathon off the bike.
"It’s going to be a 13-14 hour day on a good day and in terms of triathlons it doesn’t get bigger than that in Scotland so we will see how that goes.
"I’ll just keep pushing the boundaries and see where I end up."
